No Place Like Home
by Caillean
Summary: Small chapters revolving around the finale of 3.22. CS - wanted to dive a bit deeper into what both Emma and Hook were thinking / feeling there at the end - and perhaps set things up for a story I've been working on down the line.
1. Chapter 1

~No Place Like Home~

_So, this is just a few short one shot chapters regarding the end of 3.22 - specifically Emma and Hook (so, yes, CS)…I felt like there was so much going on that wasn't said (or seen) that I wanted to give it a go. Obviously I don't own any of these lovely characters, but I wouldn't mind borrowing them for awhile. Reviews and comments are more than appreciated, they are loved. Hope you enjoy! – Caillean_

"…It is our pleasure to introduce you to our son. Prince Neal."

Emma's heart felt like it was breaking into a million little pieces while floating at the same time as she absorbed the name of her new little brother. This was what they meant by the circle of life, wasn't it? She had lost Neal, but his sacrifice was instrumental is brining this new life into the world, this little prince she already was so full of love for.

"It's so nice to meet you Neal."

It almost seemed as if he raised his hand in greeting, and she felt the tears burning against her eyes. Maybe they never found Tallahassee, but Neal would be content to know that she and Henry had finally found Home.

She looked across the table and met Mary Mar….her _mother's_ eyes. There was an acknowledgement there, as if she said "Yes, you loved and lost, and so have we, but we will move forward and continue to love, continue to grow, together, as a family."

She'd always have complex feelings about Neal; she'd always have a part of her that begged the question "what if?" Could they have found happiness together, even after all he walked away from? She would always love him; love the hero he had become. In the end, he had proven himself to be a good man, and for Henry, that was all that mattered to Emma.

_You don't have a home, until you just miss it…._

She turned around.

_Hook_.

Where was he? Peering through the window behind Rumpelstiltskin, she thought she spied someone sitting out in the courtyard. Standing, Emma excused herself, not seeing the knowing look pass between her parents as she did.


	2. Chapter 2

He walked up to Granny's diner, stopping short of climbing the steps to the front door. Through the window he could see Emma and her parents talking while Henry read to the new little prince. They were the picture of happiness, and he couldn't bring himself to intrude. He'd wait a few moments, catch his breath outside, and then perhaps he would venture in to join in the celebration.

Sitting down, he leaned his head back and glanced up at the sky. He could still see a few stars here, but so many of their numbers were hidden, too shy to compete with these town lights. He still missed the sea. Even if the ocean breeze blew through this town, it would never compare to the feeling of the open tides stretching out before him. Someday he would sail again, perhaps, just perhaps, on the Jolly Roger.

Hook turned his flask of rum this way and that in his hand, finding for once he didn't have any desire to open it. Everyone was safe, everything was back to normal, yet he just wasn't in a celebratory mood. What was he supposed to be celebrating? Why did he feel like he'd left something back there in the past?

When they'd stood together in The Dark One's vault, he had been filled with pride for what Emma had accomplished. She'd regained her magic, found her home, and finally accepted her family. Yet, when she had looked into his eyes, he still couldn't tell if she had accepted _him_. He could read that woman like a book unless the chapter was about him. Then, the words became blurred and melted into one another, no pattern emerging.

It had seemed in the kingdom of the Enchanted Forest that anything was possible. The way she looked at him, the way she smiled, all the little gestures and glances – for a moment, for one bloody _beautiful_ moment he wondered if perhaps she felt the same way about him. Now, though, now….back here in Storybrooke, his head was full of doubt.

The door to Granny's opened, and he looked up. Emma smiled slightly as she walked over towards him, but Hook had learned a long time ago, her smiles could mean anything. He put down the flask again as she sat next to him. Perhaps now, finally, they would talk.


	3. Chapter 3

_~Apologies for this one… most of the text is lifted from the actual scene in the episode! I promise there's more originality to come… really… just hang in there….~_

Emma walked out the front door of Granny's. Yep, that was Hook sitting over there, all right. Alone. Irritation flitted across her features, why couldn't he have just come inside with everyone else? He should have been there for the naming, the coronation, whatever it was. He should have been there, _with her_, to help tell their story to her parents.

_Don't you think he knows that?_ A little voice in her head whispered fiercely_. That pirate would do anything for you, and he's proven it time and again. There's some other reason he's out here._

Damn. She hated it when that little voice was right.

"So," she said as sat down next to him, "do you think Rumpelstiltskin is right? I'm in the book now. He said everything besides our little adventure would go back to normal. Do you think that it is?"

Hook looked down for a moment. "He's right. Otherwise I'd have remembered that damned bar wench I kissed."

She couldn't help but smiling. There he was, a bit of a flirt; almost back to normal.

"How would that prove anything?" Emma felt herself anticipating his answer. How _would_ that have changed anything, had he remembered a kiss from 30 years ago? _It wasn't as if he'd care about some random woman he met at a bar that his life story would change..._

Hook smiled. "I know how you kiss; I'd have gone after her." He met Emma's eyes for a moment. She heard _to the ends of the earth_ whisper in her mind before he turned his eyes away to play with one of his rings. "But I didn't. My life went on exactly the same as before."

_A pause._

_A breath._

_A smile._

"Yeah, must've been the rum."

Emma wanted to say so much; she just couldn't find the courage to speak the words. They went through _so_ much together back in the Enchanted Forest and their relationship – whatever it _was_ – certainly had to be stronger for it.

Maybe she'd had her walls up for too long, maybe she was broken too much to ever trust someone with all her heart again, but this man in front of her? He'd whittled away at her defenses until she felt like she was as thin skinned as a Faberge egg. He'd become her _friend_.

_The pirate and the princess. _

It sounded like something right out of Henry's book.


	4. Chapter 4

"Yeah. Must've been the rum."

He watched her closely. Was that a hint of disappointment he saw in her smile? Guilt? Hook could readily imagine Emma looking back on the events of the past few days with more than a little regret.

Even worse, could she have preferred who he was _then_ to who he was _today_?

_You're getting well ahead of yourself, mate. She's tired. We're both tired. But she's home. She succeeded._

Things could move forward now for the woman in front of him. She had regained her magic, her family, her home. But what about him? The only home he'd ever loved was gone, along with the only family he'd ever known. Liam, Neil, nothing but memories and regrets.

_Later_. He reminded himself. _For now, she's right in front of you mate. Talk. _

"Everything's back to normal; you're a bloody hero, Swan."

She smiled, but drew back from him, shaking her head slightly.

"So are you."

_Am I? _

For so long, he had been known by one title above all else: Pirate. It took a moment for Hook to even acknowledge the possibility of him being a hero. A swordfight, a rescue – albeit not at all required. Yes, perhaps those were the actions of a hero.

The little voice in his head whispered something else.

_You held her when she needed it. _

Hook turned his eyes back to Emma's. Something shifted in their grey green depths, something subtle but not at all unwelcome.

"I wanted to thank you…Killian…."

The call of the siren. Her voice. Saying his _name_. He had to look away.

"… for going back for me in the first place in New York. If you hadn't…"

"It was the right thing to do."

_Good form. _

"How did you do it? How did you get to me?" Her voice had softened somehow, his princess.

Hook didn't know what to think, was she finally going to acknowledge that there was something between them? Was she ready to accept him for who he was? Who he wanted to be?

_Time to walk the plank, mate._

"Well, the curse was coming…."


	5. Chapter 5

Emma listened as Hook explained how he managed to outrun the curse and find a way to cross over the realms to her in New York. He seemed so very nonchalant about the tale, but she could see that there was something he was holding back. He'd needed a magic bean, but to get one of those he'd have to trade something of great value.

"…And what was that?" She asked, smiling and remembering their time at the top of the Giants' beanstalk. Perhaps he had managed to steal something along the way to pay for the bean. She was sure he'd have quite the story surrounding that, and couldn't wait to hear it.

He smiled, but it didn't reach his blue eyes.

"Why the Jolly Roger, of course."

_What?_

"You traded your ship for me?"

"Aye."

She was floored. The Jolly Roger was his home, his heart, his life. For him to do that….

Emma couldn't keep her eyes off of him now. There was no way to deny it any longer, he _loved_ her. This wasn't some light flirtation on his part; he wasn't just a pirate looking for his next conquest. He _loved_ her. It changed everything.

The little voice piped up again in her mind.

_It changes nothing._

The man before her, whatever else he may have done in the past, had _proven time and again_ that he was there to support her now. Maybe they didn't meet under the best of circumstances, but then again, neither had her parents and they held the power of True Love.

_So what is this?_

Emma didn't know. The only thing she knew at that moment was that the man before her, Killian, her friend, her pirate, he was waiting on her to say something. Anything. She could see it in her eyes.

But Emma didn't have the words to tell him what that sacrifice meant to her.

_You don't need words._

He had said back in Neverland that he wouldn't win her heart with trickery. He was right. He won it with subtlety, with support. He was there to hold her when she needed it. He was there when she needed to let her defenses down. He had been there to tell her what she needed to hear, not what she wanted. She trusted him more than anyone else, in a strange way more than she trusted herself.

She leaned in to kiss him. To show him how she felt, because words just wouldn't work here. This was the stuff out of a fairy tale.

_The princess and the pirate._

Their lips met and the world melted away.


	6. Chapter 6

"Aye."

The minute he said the word, he felt as if time stopped. Emma was staring at him with a completely different expression on her face.

_She sees you now._

His chest tightened. Finally, after he thought she'd never understand how he felt, she _saw_ him. She knew.

And as she leaned towards him, he also realized she had let down that final wall between them, and was, just maybe, accepting her feelings as well.

Their lips met, and it felt as if the world melted away. He knew how she kissed, aye. Passion and strength and power, all things he had felt when she near killed him with her lips in Neverland. This, however, oh this was something altogether _more_. He felt her heart in this kiss, he felt gentleness, softness, the fragile smile of her tears back in the Enchanted Forest. This was Emma, this was the Savior he knew, but this was also the little lost girl she held inside.

_She let you in._

After a few glorious moments, he felt her pull away, looking down. Hook lifted her chin until she looked at him, and she smiled. He smiled. This was _right_. This was what he had been missing his whole life.

This is what filled the void his revenge has wrought within him.

_Love_.

He leaned back towards her for another kiss.

She met him halfway.


	7. Chapter 7

Emma finally broke off the kiss and pulled back, looking into his eyes, darkened with desire. She was certain there was a mirrored look in her own.

_That kiss._

Emma didn't care if it was true love or not, it was truly _amazing_ in this moment. One thing she had learned in Storybrooke is that you don't always have more than now. She wasn't going to take that for granted anymore.

There was something else, though. Neal may have been a rival to Hook, but Emma knew he was his friend first. He cared for him, even as a boy and Hook deserved to know how he had been honored.

"Killian, you should know what you missed inside. The naming." She hesitated, feeling the emotions swell again to the surface of her face. "The little prince's name. It's Neal."

Hook closed his eyes. "A fitting tribute. His boy should be proud to know who his uncle is named for." He placed his hand over hers, pulling it against his chest. "Are _you_ comfortable with it, though? It could be a painful reminder of your loss. I wouldn't want to see that pain you in any way."

"No, I'm good with it." She smiled and shook her head at him. "You really do care, don't you?"

He ran his hand along her hair, down her shoulder. "Always, love."

He pulled her close again, unable to get enough of the feel of his lips against hers. They sat like that for what seemed an eternity and a breathless second at the same time. Someone, however, seemed to think they had gone on like that for long enough, _thankyouverymuch_.

"Get a room or get inside, you two!" Leroy called out from the front door of the diner. "There's cake!"

"Hang the cake, and hang the dwarf." Hook whispered against Emma's lips as he pulled her closer.

"No," She reluctantly pushed him away, "He's right."

A single eyebrow raised in response. "Then should we retire to my room?"

"Not happening." She tempered her statement with a quick peck on his cheek and stood up, resisting the urge to laugh at the frustration clear on his face.

She turned and reached her hand out to him.

"You coming, Killian?"

The corner of his mouth twitched up slightly as he took her hand in his own. Bringing it up to his mouth as he stood, he brushed the top of her knuckles with his lips and captured her gaze.

"As you wish."

~FIN~

_There you go! I hope you enjoyed this little bit of fluff I wrote – it felt good to get in their heads a bit, for certain. Thanks for sticking around until the end, and I hope to hear your thoughts! - Caillean_


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